Principles of Consolidation and Presentation	6 Months Ended
Principles of Consolidation and Presentation	Jun. 30, 2011
Principles of Consolidation and Presentation
Principles of Consolidation and Presentation	1. Principles of Consolidation and Presentation The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and all majority-owned subsidiaries (the Company). The consolidated financial statements in this report have not been audited. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Certain reclassifications were made to 2010 data to conform to current year presentation. These included the reclassification of certain non-interest bearing deposits from money market accounts to non-interest bearing deposits, in order to more accurately present the Company's balances of non-interest bearing deposits. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position and the results of operations for the interim periods have been made. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. The results of operations for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2011 are not necessarily indicative of results to be attained for the full year or any other interim periods. The significant accounting policies followed in the preparation of the quarterly financial statements are disclosed in the 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Description containing the entire organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure. May be provided in more than one note to the financial statements, as long as users are provided with an understanding of (1) the significant judgments and assumptions made by an enterprise in determining whether it must consolidate a VIE and/or disclose information about its involvement with a VIE, (2) the nature of restrictions on a consolidated VIE's assets reported by an enterprise in its statement of financial position, including the carrying amounts of such assets, (3) the nature of, and changes in, the risks associated with an enterprise's involvement with the VIE, and (4) how an enterprise's involvement with the VIE affects the enterprise's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows. Describes procedure if disclosures are provided in more than one note to the financial statements.

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